A Wonderful Transformation – Radcliffe

  This is Radcliffe when he arrived at the Center for Great Apes in Florida.  He was too thin and had very little hair.  Obviously, he was not well physically nor psychologically.

Radcliffe was born on February 18, 1979 in a zoo in Ohio.  Radcliffe was unlucky in that he is a cross between a Bornean orangutan and a Sumatran orangutan.  This fact probably was why he was sold to a circus trainer as a baby. 

Thus began his entertainment career.  Yes, he was a television personality and he also had to perform for small traveling circuses during his early years (when he should have been with his mother).

You’ll NEVER guess what happened?  Of course, Radcliffe became too large for the trainers to handle safely.  He was sold to another zoo in New York and then to a roadside attraction in Florida.  He was almost to his final and best home he could imagine.

The roadside attraction closed and thankfully the Center for Great Apes was able to rescue him from his years in small cages.

  Radcliffe now gets to climb high in his sanctuary home.

  He lives with another orangutan named Bam Bam.

And, using the wonderful Boswell Walk-About Chute System he visits all of his other orangutan friends.

  Radcliffe loves to play with all the enrichment items the center provides for him.  The center makes sure he gets three enrichments a day to keep his curious mind busy.  He really likes bubbles in his water and rags so he can wash down the toys, shelves and walls of his nighthouse.

  This is what Radcliffe looked like after 12 months at the center.  He not only looked better but he felt better.

Radcliffe started out life not so lucky since he was not pure Bornean nor pure Sumatran.  But if he could talk now he would say how thankful he is a cross between both types of orangutans because it brought him to the Center for Great Apes his final and best home.

What can you do for Radcliffe?  Donate enrichment items to the center.  Check out their Wish List for items you can donate.

You can send your donations to:  Center for Great Apes, Box 488, Wauchula, Florida 33873

If you want to learn more about how you can help Radcliffe and the other orangutans and chimps that the center provides permanent homes to, contact them: http://www.prime-apes.org/html/contact.html

Kesi – More Pictures

Hi,

I believe Kesi is at the end of this video:

I just found this site where they put up a lot of photos of Kesi.  There are quite a few of her and other orangutans at the Nyaru Menteng Center.  They are beautiful photographs.  Please check them out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/animalrescueblog/sets/72157594375684199/detail/

Here are more pictures.  Can you find Kesi among them? http://www.onasia.com/content/story.aspx?storyID=469&page=1

Kind Regards,

April & Kesi

Orangutan Heros – We Love You!

Lone Droscher-Nielson was a SAS flight attendant from Aalborg, Denmark and now manages the largest primate project in the world.

It began when she vacationed at a compound in Borneo’s Tanjung Puting National Park 14 years ago.  She said she had no choice after she saw the malnourished, intelligent, childlike orangutans with outstretched hands and pleading eyes.  She had to save them.

She founded the Nyaru Menteng Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in 1999 and makes her home there with her beloved orangutans. 

There are over 600 orangutans to be cared for at the Center so Lone’s job is literally never done.  Between taking care of the orangutans, administration of the center and fundraising she is on duty or on call around the clock. 

Her sleeping quarters are very close to the orphaned babies nursery and she is often awakened at night by their cries for their dead mothers many of whom they watched murdered before their very eyes.  At one time she not only worked all day but got up with the little ones to feed them at night.  Thankfully, now there are two babysitters that work through the night soothing the tiny ones when they wake frightened and feeding them as their mothers would if they had lived.

In fact, there are now over 100 employees at the center which include veterinarians, lab technicians, cooks and orangutan nannies.

  We love you Lone!  You are our HERO!

Learn more about this remarkable lady at .

Not So Fun Facts About Orangutans

Not so Fun Facts:

Every minute, every day an area equal to six football fields of Indonesian forest disappears. 

Orangutans in the entertainment industry do not have social security or pensions to fall back on when they have to retire.  Their former trainers and owners do not provide for their needs once they are too old to bring in money.

Since small orangutans are easier to handle in the entertainment industry they keep breeding orangutans in captivity in order to keep the supply of babies available.  After taking them from their mother and using them for our entertainment the orangutans are then set aside when they become to large to handle usually kept in cages too small for them.  

Orangutans used in the entertainment industry are torn from their mothers when born, kept in small cages on the set with nothing to entertain them for enrichment of their lives but forced to perform and “entertain” people many times a day.  Their former owners regrettably do not provide them retirement income when they become to large to handle and are turned over to the Center for Great Apes sanctuary in Florida.

Approximately 1 out of 6 orphaned orangutans are fortunate enough to be rescued.

Nearly 1,000 orphaned orangutans are in rescue and rehabilitation centers.

Just like humans, orangutans can catch malaria from mosquitoes and even die from the disease.

Orangutans have lost approximately 80% of their habitat in the last 20 years.

Approximately 1/3 of the wild population of orangutans died during the fires of 1997 and 1998.

There were about 20,000 orangutans in Borneo in 1996 and there are approximately 12,000 to 15,000 orangutans in Borneo now with approximately 4,000 to 6,000 in Sumatra at this time.

If this rate of decline continues orangutans in the wild will be extinct in approximately 10 years.

The human population of Indonesia has grown from 10 million people at the beginning of the century to over 200 million people at this time.
 

When creating plantations it is common to first burn the land. These fires often spread uncontrollably and orangutans are burned to death having no chance to escape.

Poachers sell infant orangutans as exotic pets.

These baby orangutans are often placed outdoors in small wooden cages or chained to poles where they are exposed to the elements such as wind, rain and sun.

Poachers eat and sell the flesh of adult orangutans.

Illegal logging and fires are making the native habitat rainforests of the orangutans disappear at an unsustainable rate.

When the rainforest is cut down or burned, orangutans are often forced to enter plantations in order to find food where humans kill or capture them.

In Asia there is a big market for orangutan babies as pets.

In both Indonesia and Malaysia there is great prestige to be able to afford to have a captured wild animal in your home.

Many of the people who keep orangutans as pets are the very people who should be enforcing the law.

Orangutans are often smuggled to other countries in the large freighters loaded with the very timber that was once their home and many die enroute.

Illnesses, stress, depression and death are typical of captive orangutans.

Fun Facts About Orangutans

Orangutan Fun Facts:

 

Orangutans are highly intelligent and use tools:

They will poke twigs into holes to catch insects, chew up leaves and use them as sponges and use branches and sticks to test the depth of water before entering it.

Orangutans are sometimes referred to as “red apes.”  

Orangutans are the only Great Ape found outside Africa.

Orangutans are the only “red” ape.

Orangutans are the only strictly arboreal ape, meaning that they spend their lives in the forest canopy.

Orangutans breed slower than any other primate and have approximately 3 offspring in their lifetime. 

Sumatran orangutans have lighter hair, longer beards and narrower cheekpads than Borean orangutans.

  Orangutans brachiate (swing arm-over-arm through the forest) better than any other ape.

There are two species of orangutans: Sumatran, Pongo abelii, 

and Borean, Pongo pygmaeus. 

Orangutans are the only apes in the world that are from Asia. 

Orangutans are diurnal which means they are active during the day. 

Orangutans have opposable thumbs which means they can touch each of their fingers with their thumb. 

A male orangutan’s cheek pads keep growing for most of their life. 

Orangutans have 32 permanent teeth (the same amount as humans).  They have sharp canine teeth with the male orangutan having longer canine teeth that they use for threat displays and fighting. 

Mosquitoes bother orangutans just like they do humans and they will use branches like fly swatters to swish them away.

When it rains or the sun is hot an orangutan will hold a leafy branch or two over its head to protect itself from getting wet or overheated. 

Most orangutans build a nest every night high up in a tree and sometimes even add a roof of leaves. 

Orangutans can make approximately 13 to 15 different vocalizations. 

The name “orangutan” translates into English as “man of the forest”. It comes from Malay and Bahasa Indonesian orang (man) and hutan (forest). 

At this time orangutans can still be found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.

Legend says that orangutans can speak but choose not to because they fear they would be forced to work if were they ever caught talking.

An orangutan arms can have a reach of more than 8 feet!  How tall are you?  Probably not 8 feet or higher.  So, an orangutan can have a reach of a length longer than you are tall!

In their true habitat, male orangutans live alone and females live alone or with their infants.

Male orangutans reach a height of approximately 4.5 feet and females about 3.5 feet tall.

An orangutan is expected to live in their true habitat between 35 to 50 years (when not having their lives interrupted by poachers or other humans).  There are cases of orangutans in captivity living over 50 years–but what kind of life is that?  Give me 35 years of freedom instead of 50 years in a cage.

Female orangutans usually have one baby at a time and will only have one every 6 to 7 years.

Orangutans eat tropical fruits, leaves, sprouts, bark and insects.

Baby orangutans cry when they’re hungry, whimper when they’re hurt and smile at their mothers.

Be The Creature

Orangutan visit

Jan. 7: “Creature adventurers” the Kratt brothers show the “Today” show’s Natalie Morales two orangutans, and talk about their upcoming show on the National Geographic channel called “Kratt Brothers: Be the Creature.”

Be the Creature.

Orangutans – The Grim Facts

This is an emotional video with the facts. http://www.cockroach.org.uk/

www.savetheorangutan.co.uk

www.savetheorangutan.co.uk

Part 1 of 3 – Save the Orangutans

Part 2 of 3 – Save the Orangutans

Part 3 of 3 – Save the Orangutans

Orangutans in Crisis – BOS team in action

Watch this video to see what the BOS team does daily to help save the orangutans.

You will learn a lot from this very short video. www.ifaw.org

How does a baby orangutan thrive without his mother?

Orangutans are solitary creatures except for the 6 or so years a mother has a baby.

Solitary does not mean they are unloving or unfeeling.  It simply means God made them in a way that they prefer to be alone.  This means away from human beings also.  But, when forced to be in a group they do get along together and many even enjoy each others company.

I am not going to give you all the book learning about orangutans that is already out there on the Internet.  I will give you wonderful links that you can go to and learn about their history – let me state right now that I do not agree with all these links say regarding the orangutans history.  The true history is that God made them when he made all other creatures, Adam named them and God is watching over them right now.  Evolution is a theory and just that.  It will never be proved anything else.

What I want to show you is the type of maternal love Kesi would have gotten if she had not been cut from her mother before she had even grew in all her baby teeth.

   Speaking of cutting a baby from her mother.  Who could look at this beautiful baby and do any harm to her?  Why is it so different when it comes to a living animal?  God made them just as he made this adorable baby.

Below are some illustrations of how orangutan mothers love their babies.  If you wish to see more of this love go to:  http://www.primates.com/orangutans/index.html

  Where does a baby orangutan sleep?  On his mother, of course.

  Who does a baby orangutan hold on to?  His mother, of course.

  Who does a baby orangutan trust.  His mother, of course.

  Who shares her food with a baby orangutan?  His mother, of course.

  Where do baby orangutan get their kisses.  From their mothers, of course.

     Where does all of this come from when the baby orangutan has no mother?

From dedicated volunteers who take in these pitiful orphans and raise them like their mothers would have if they would have lived AND from your support of the following organizations:

Orangutan Outreach:   http://redapes.org/adopt-an-orangutan/

Sumatran Orangutan Society:  http://www.orangutans-sos.org/?gclid=CPuOr_yV2o8CFSLNIgodxDnA4A 

 Orangutan Conservancy:  http://www.orangutan.com/

 Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre:  http://www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk/sepilok-rehabilitation-centre/

And many more, just use your search engine and type in “orangutan center saving” and you will be overloaded with the possibilities of saving orangutans from complete annialation.

Kind Regards,

April & Kesi